Amazing 'Pirates of Penzance' aboard a real tall ship

Every theater seems to love "The Pirates of Penzance." The venerable Gilbert and Sullivan operetta has a Broadway pedigree, more hummable hits than "Mamma Mia," comic coppers singing "Tarantara-ra-ra," killer business involving a pun on the linguistic similarity between "often" and "orphan," the mother of all patter songs, many hilarious gags that remain remarkably unwilted by the passage of time, an exotic setting and a zesty hero in The Pirate King — relished by every macho, swashbuckling baritone this side of Shanghai.

By Chris Jones

September 6, 2012